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May 11, 2005
Kung Fu As Spiritual Endeavor
Milton Konvitz wrote that the fundamental purpose of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings is to teach us that "each man's world is his own creation, each man's work is his own confession. (Emerson)broaden(s) and deepen(s) life by helping each man to discover and disencumber his own powers." To "engage the soul in a dialogue and not in a "catechism." Catechism would involve a prescription from outside authority, traditions and institutions, while dialogue suggests exchange, flux and recreation of ideas.
So many people come to kung fu or qigong with the idea of it being a spiritually enlightening process. It is the process of the individual becoming, discovering and disencumbering his own powers of creation that cause a person to explore methods and paths of spiritual awareness. But a body of rules, authoritarian, a catechism, is always in place to describe the path or the concept, or way. Catechism is a method by which a natural thing becomes a system. All human intermediary of necessity involves system. Just as a vocalized utterances transfer meaning. But in order to do that the language itself has rules and is a system that provides the framework for comprehension.
The aim of Zen is to go beyond the catechism of thought conveyance and its forms such as language, art and other forms of expression so that there is a direct awareness of nature. The paradox is that Zen contains a large body of scriptures, rules and authoritative interpretation. Others teach that the language, paradigms, structures, forms need not necessarily be done away with in order to achieve this direct awareness. To define direct awareness is to define the aim of a structure, not the awareness itself. By understanding the structure of various systems, understand numerous paradigms pointing to direct awareness we come to intuit what it is that a catechism is pointing towards.
A study of a particular structure, system, or form for a great number of years brings a person into a great comprehension of the dynamics and application of strictures and dogma within a catechism, but doesn't necessarily lead to an understanding of that which the whole structure is pointing. To paraphrase Bruce Lee, if you look at the finger pointing you will miss out on all of the heavenly glory that it is pointing at.
In the realm of kung fu and forms practiced with a spiritual intent this presents a unique problem for the American. The American is driven to explore numerous paths, to comprehend from numerous angles, to apply and discard. Consumerism not withstanding, America is a spiritual culture that explores new avenues of the self in all of its activities. Arguably, consumerism is a natural outcome of this desire to explore and comprehend with new meanings and definition that which is familiar. To produce and consume unnecessary products loses absurdity in the midst of an absurd, irrational existence. Andy Warhol explored this with art that parodied our consumer paradigm of existence to show that the absurdity of our lives and actions is evident all around us no matter how much we try to trick ourselves with our paradigms of righteousness.
The most well known spiritual figures influential in American society have had their teachings appropriated and systemitized by subsequent generations. Christ, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius started no religions themselves, though they provided orally a catechism for their disciples. Lao Tzu was a poetic thinker much as Emerson. The American propensity to intellectualize and debate created an Emersonian philosophy that Emerson himself never intended. Taoism was never a religion created by Lao Tzu or his students. It began as indigenous nature worship that predated any forms of known systemic thought and developed through the integration of cultures. No one decided to one day start a religion with a pantheon of gods, they are assimilated over a period of time. In our Western heritage this is exemplified by the Catholic church which assimilated the cultural traditions of the various conquered societies of the Roman Empire. The word "catholic" is defined as universal, or general.
But what does this all have to do with Kung Fu? When we are looking for ways to explore spirituality it is necessary to understand that schools are schools. A school has a system of thought and all forms within a system will point to something. What that something is has meaning only to the individual. Oh, the teacher and the school can have a manifesto tacked on the wall, and rules of conduct or behavior, such as respect, courtousy, integrity, etc... But these are not special to any particular school. These are inherent, and in many cases assumed characteristics that are to be pointed at by any ethical inclination whether it be at a social club, business meeting, church, or singles bar. If those same characteristics aren't followed you will not get a promotion, not get dates, not have friends. So the underlying teaching is submission and recognition of authority. By submitting to the authority of the school, its teachers, its hierarchy and recognizing and observing the social protocol of the senior students and teachers you are learning to be submissive in other areas of life, at job, at school, in social surroundings.
In exchange for this submission we hope to learn rituals that will enhance our understanding of pre-existing values and prevaricate our perception of our own existence; to sweep away the absurdity that muddies our perception of ourselves and our lives, to show us the trash and litter in the gutter and the advertising and products that we have come to identify with and appropriate as part of ourselves.
As a student learns more forms he experiences his own body movements and the mechanics that lead from one movement to another and the fluidity of the body's energy as expressed in the muscles and nerves and blood. The student learns intuitively the things he was bored with in high school biology class. But the movement of the body and the awareness of the body itself doesn't necessarily lead one to understand without the individual intuition. The student appropriates what he has been taught and intuits his own system or teaching method; he becomes aware of his own self paradigm and the structures that give him meaning.
Charlotte Alexander sums up Emerson's principles of self-trust and individualism: "each mind must make its own classifications on the basis of old and new facts, experience and materials; each man must find his own center and his own orbit in the changing, various world. From his insights into his inner nature, and his understanding of the circular nature of existence, he infers the secrets of Nature, the rest of the external world, and perhaps, of his divinity and immortality."
More importantly for the student of kung fu forms is that the intuitive process that is developed vis a vis his own intellectual paradigm more firmly develops the propensity to have the epiphanies which collectively serve the intuitive process of self awareness. The epiphany is the Occidental equivalent to the oriental concept of Zen whereby the individual finds profundity in a seemingly mundane occurrence. One of the best examples of this in Western literature is from James Joyce's novel, Stephen Hero.
(Stephen)told Cranly that the clock of the Ballast Office was capable of an epiphany. Cranly questioned the inscrutable dial of the Ballast Office with his no less inscrutable countenance:
-Yes, said Stephen. I will pass it time after time, allude to it, refer to it, catch a glimpse of it. It is only an item in the catalogue of Dublin's street furniture. Then all at once I see it and I know at once what it is: epiphany.
-What?
-Imagine my glimpses at that clock as the gropings of a spiritual eye which seeks to adjust its vision to an exact focus. The moment the focus is reached the object is epiphanised. It is just in this epiphany that I find the third, the supreme quality of beauty.
-Yes? said Cranly absently.
-No esthetic theory, pursued Stephen relentlessly, is of any value which investigates with the aid of the lantern of tradition. What we symbolise in black the Chinaman may symbolise in yellow: each has his own tradition. Greek beauty laughs at Coptic beauty and the American Indian derides them both. It is almost impossible to reconcile all tradition whereas it is by no means impossible to find the justification of every form of beauty which has ever been adored on the earth by an examination into the mechanism of esthetic apprehension whether it be dressed in red, white, yellow or black. We have no reason for thinking that the Chinaman has a different system of digestion from that which we have though our diets are quite dissimilar. The apprehensive faculty must be scrutinised in action.
All indigenous cultures have rituals that have survived for many generations that assist the human in shedding the nurturing of culture, parents, peers, systems. The culture and systems and nurturing provide us with the clothing of a facile existence which we use as a vehicle to explore spiritual questions that are beyond empirical reasoning. Walking in circles, performing movements and body mechanics have all been part of indigenous spiritual development including African tribal ceremonies, Celtic ritual,Mayan war games, Native American, Siberian, and Australian Bush dances. Wrestling was a social activity in ancient Greece where it was a ritual among men of culture towards peace and friendship. It was considered an art that defined the beauty of man's body and movement.
Americans of every descent embrace the rituals of other cultures because they recognize the different methods all point to the same thing. And it is from the utilization of these different methods that the American learns more about just what all of these methods are pointing at. The American spiritual seeker is like the Shaman whose duty it is to explore the unknown so that he can undertand those things that can only be taught by direct experience. In this regard many activities can provide the same vehicle, dance, sculpture and painting, weightlifting, running, walking, even bowling. We create our understanding through our involvement in any activity and have our epiphanies of our own accord. No two pracitioners will have the same epiphany or spiritual nurturing through physical activity because that epiphany or spiritual comprehension is unique to each individual. Bruce Lee taught that this awareness could not be reached by strict following of form. This is awareness is met by the body following an unknown calling, whereby a deconstruction of form becomes the spontaneous instruction of spirituality.
